World renowned fantasy author and Charleston native James Oliver Rigney Jr, best known to the book world as Robert Jordan, will be inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors in a ceremony at Rigney’s alma mater, The Citadel at 7:00 PM on March 8, 2008.  Induction into the Academy is among the state’s most prestigious literary honors.  Previous members include James Dickey, Pat Conroy, Josephine Humphreys and John Jakes, among others.  Rigney will be the forty-seventh inductee.

Rigney was born in 1948 in Charleston, South Carolina, where he lived with his wife, Harriet, in a house built in 1797.  He was a graduate of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, with a degree in physics.  He served two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army; among his decorations are the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star with “V,” and two Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry.  His writing career began in 1977 and he wrote up until his death on September 16, 2007.

                Although Rigney wrote a trilogy of historical novels set in Charleston under the nom de plume Reagan O’Neal in the early 1980s, he is best known for his work in the fantasy genre.  The first volume in his WHEEL OF TIME epic, THE EYE OF THE WORLD, was published in 1990 under the name Robert Jordan.  Book 11 of the series, KNIFE OF DREAMS, came out in 2005.  He was working on the twelfth volume at the time of his death.  The WHEEL OF TIME books, many of which made the number one hardcover position on the NEW YORK TIMES best seller list, have often been compared to the work of J. R. R. Tolkien.  Rigney’s works have been translated into more than twenty languages, and his books have sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, according to his publisher.

The South Carolina Academy of Authors, the state’s literary hall of fame, was founded at Anderson College in 1986.  Its purpose is to identify and recognize the state’s distinguished writers, living and deceased.  Beyond its traditional induction ceremonies, the Academy’s largely educational focus has also taken programmatic form in its sponsorship of cash-award literary fellowships.  With its goal of nurturing new literary achievement, the fellowship program has helped to launch or further the careers of some of the state’s emerging fiction and nonfiction writers, poets, and dramatists.

The ceremony is sponsored by The Board of Governors of the South Carolina Academy of Authors in conjunction with the Department of English at The Citadel, the Poetry Society of South Carolina, and the South Carolina Center for the Book. A limited number of tickets are available at: SC Academy of Authors, C/O 6 Ft. Royal Ave. Charleston, SC 29407 Tickets $35. 843-762-9729.

Press Contact: Tom Johnson
President, Board of Governors of the South Carolina Academy of Authors
Press phone contact: 864-573-1072
Press email contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (Tom Johnson)

Photo Credit:  Jack Alterman